We had eight seniors last year, so leadership was taken care of. But this year was my time to step up.

I proved the critics wrong. And now we have the gold.

A lot of people come to see me fail. They want to downgrade me or underrate me. Everybody wants to see the top players go down, especially if they get a lot of press. It makes me play a lot harder. Come fourth quarter, I want to show them what I'm made of. It proves all the critics wrong by coming home with the gold.

A lot of people come to see me fail. Everyone wants to see the top players go down. That just makes me want to step up and show people that I deserve everything I'm getting.

It's all about winning championships.

That just showed me what (Dixon) told me was true, that he was about to sign the longest extension in Division I basketball. He's a pretty stand-up guy. He doesn't have nothing to hide.

It's still early in my recruiting, so I don't have any leaders or favorites. We're trying to make that better than the old (Michigan) Fab Five.